The Prodigies
by ChrstnWrtr
Summary: Link and Zelda are the proud parents of geniuses. But are they safe from Ganon's clutches?


The Prodigies  
  
By: Shannon  
  
NOTE: I do not own the characters to LoZ, okees?  
  
It was a rather, cloudy and windy day. A storm had just passed Hyrule and everything was rather wet. In Hyrule Castle, King Link and Queen Zelda were expecting their first child. Zelda had just given birth to a healthy, baby boy.  
  
"I know, we'll call him Roderick," said Link jokingly.  
  
"You know I HATE that name," said Zelda. "Why don't we call him William?"  
  
"Too proper and stuck up," said Link. "Let's call him Richard."  
  
"I like that name. So he shall be Richard, prince of Hyrule!"  
  
The next day, Link and his wife Zelda and their new son, Richard appeared on the royal balcony at Hyrule Castle to greet their fellow Hylians.  
  
"My fellow countrymen," said Link. "The heir to the Hylian throne!" He lifted up Prince Richard for all to see. The crowd ooooed and awwwwed. They clapped, cried, and cheered. This was their future king.  
  
  
As Richard was in his toddler years, he had developed something rather unusual. When he was 3, he crawled to his parents' piano (which was used for entertaining guests and foreign dignitaries) in the parlor, managed to crawl on the seat, and started to play (since he couldn't reach the keys sitting on the seat, he stood up). And this wasn't just "press-any-piano-key-and-make-any-note" kind of thing. What Richard played was fabulous. It was beautiful music. He had previously heard the music played by roving ministrels in Hyrule Castle Town and started to play it on the piano.  
  
Zelda was busy feeding Richard's 1-year-old sister Ellen when she heard the music coming from the parlor. "That music," said Zelda. "It's coming from the piano in the parlor, but who could be playing that music?" She finished feeding Ellen, handed her to to her nanny, and rushed to the parlor. To her surprise, Richard was playing the piano. But how could he? He was only 3 years old and only watched his father and his mother play at family parties.  
  
"Richard!" she exclaimed. "What were you doing?"  
  
"Play piano, play piano," said Richard, jumping happily up and down. "Play piano!"  
  
"Oh dear God!" Zelda cried. "My son is a prodigy! LINK! LINK!" she called, running down the hallway.  
  
  
  
Link was busy adding a new coat of paint to Ellen's bedroom with the help of a couple of guards who had nothing to do on their time off. He was dipping the roller in a tray of paint when Zelda ran into the room, out of breath.  
  
"What's wrong, Zel?" asked Link. "Something wrong with the children?"  
  
Zelda said nothing but grabbed Link's hand and led him down the hallway into the parlor room. There, the two of them witnessed 3-year-old Richard playing beautiful music on their family piano.  
  
"Wow!" said Link. "That's pretty good."  
  
"Pretty good? PRETTY GOOD?! Link, he's a prodigy! The term 'pretty good' is an UNDERSTATEMENT for crying out loud!" exclaimed Zelda.  
  
Link wiped a speck of white paint from his cheek and knelt down to his son. "Richie, can you tell Daddy and Mommy what you're playing?"  
  
"Music, music!" he said happily, clapping his hands. "I make music!"  
  
"Can you play anything else for Mommy and Daddy?" asked Link.  
  
Zelda gave him a cushion to sit on so he wouldn't have to stand on the piano seat. Richard inched closer to the piano and started to play Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumble Bee." He played the notes faster and faster until he was finished with the piece 3 minutes later.   
  
Both Zelda and Link were speechless for about a few minutes. Then Link asked, "Can you tell Mommy and Daddy where you heard that, Richie?"  
  
"Contert, contert!" shouted Richard with a smile on his face.  
  
"Contert?" asked Zelda.   
  
"He means the concert we saw a few months ago," said Link. "Dang, that kid is GOOD!"  
  
"Good? He's better than ME!" cried Zelda. "I could NEVER master 'Flight of the Bumble Bee.' He's like Mozart!"  
  
  
After that, Richard was encouraged to play the piano and any other instrument he wished. He gave his first concert when he was 5, playing everything from Beethoven to Strauss. He could also play the flute, violin, clarinet, and various other instruments. His schoolteachers remarked on how well he excelled in the classroom. But it wasn't just Richard who was gifted.  
  
Ellen, who was two years younger than Richard, could also do many of the things her brother did. She always had the highest scores on all her tests in school. She could master several foreign languages, and like her brother, she could play the piano like a master.  
  
When Ellen was 8 and Richard was 10, Link and Zelda were called to see the principal of the private school they attended.  
  
"Hello, Your Majesties," said the principal as they entered his office. "My name is Principal Peters. I had received outstanding reviews from your children's teachers. We all sat down and talked and we decided that maybe Richard and Ellen would benefit from attending a private academy for gifted children."  
  
Link and Zelda both agreed to think about it for a few days and talk with their children about it.   
  
"Well kids," said Link at dinner one night. "I just spoke with your principal at school."  
  
"Yes Father," said Richard. "Please do tell. I assume it is about our scholastic progress."  
  
"Um, well, yeah," said Link. "The principal thinks that you would benefit from attending a private school for kids like you. You know, like a...a..."  
  
"A school for gifted children, Father," said Ellen finishing her father's sentence.  
  
"Uh, yeah, something like that."  
  
The two of them looked at each other and and said in unison, "Yes, we'd love to go!"  
  
"All right, that settles it," said Zelda. "You will be starting at your new school next Monday."  
  
The first year at their new school didn't seem much of a problem to both Richard and Ellen. They both were in the same grade because of their academic excellence and both had the highest grades in all their classes. Again, the principal of THAT school called their parents in for a conference.  
  
"Well," said Principal Martin. "Here at the Hylian School for the Gifted, we committed to excellence and that's what matters. I have the academic records here for your children and it appears to be that they are doing quite well. So well in fact, that I think that they should be given a leg up."  
  
"What does that mean?" asked Link.  
  
"It is quite simple, Your Majesty. I think that your children would be able to tackle a higher level of education."  
  
"Like what?" asked Zelda. "They're 9 and 11 and already in their freshman year of high school."  
  
"Well, oh, let's say.....maybe college?"  
  
"COLLEGE?!" exclaimed Link. "I barely got by with my B.A. in Hylian Government and my M.A. in political science, so how are two, elementary-aged kids going to slide on by in college?!"  
  
"Oh, I think they will do quite well," said Principal Martin. "They can enroll in the fall semester at Hyrule University in a program that lets them take classes with gifted children like them and they are also allowed to take classes with the other students as well. And being rulers of this country, I don't think financial aid would be a problem."  
  
"That's true," said Zelda. "But do you really think they are ready for college? I mean, I remember when I first started out at the University of Hyrule at Talmina. It was hard for me to adjust."  
  
"Well, apparently it didn't take you long to adjust to sorority life, Zel," said Link jokingly.  
  
"Shut up, Mr. Phi Beta Kappa!" snapped Zelda.  
  
"Ahem! Anyway, I think your children would enjoy this experience."  
  
  
  
  
In the fall semester, both Ellen and Richard at the ages of 10 and 12, were ready to go to college full-time. Ellen was a linguistics major and Richard chose to major in music. They enjoyed themselves and managed to make VERY high grades. Both of them studied long and hard through their 4 years at Hyrule University, one of the prestigious universities in Hyrule. They both graduated with honors at ages 14 and 16 and planned to go on to graduate school.  
  
  
  
Of course, all was not well. Ganon had eyed Richard and Ellen's every move. He wanted to kidnap the two children and use their brain power against King Link and all of Hyrule. But kidnapping them wouldn't be such an easy task. Bribing them would be impossible since they were too intelligent for that.   
  
"I must find them when they're alone and send my men out to grab them and bring them back to my lair!" bellowed Ganon.   
  
Ganon now had his opportunity. He saw both Richard and Ellen walking towards his lair through his periscope. They appeared to be talking about something.  
  
"Have you always wondered about Shakespeare's play, 'Hamlet?'" Ellen asked her brother.  
  
"Several times, Ellen, several times. I do believe that he was faking insanity throughout the entire play. How about you, dear sister?"  
  
"My good brother, I could not agree more. He admitted it to his mother when he encountered her after the play, 'The Mousetrap.'"  
  
"Just a little closer, a little closer.....THERE...GOT YOU!" snapped Ganon as the two gifted siblings fell into a net, hidden with leaves.  
  
"Hmmm, it appears to me that we have been caught in a trap of some sort, dear sister," said Richard. "Hold on while I clean my glasses."  
  
  
They were quickly brought into Ganon's lair. Ganon folded his hands and beamed a fiendish smile.  
  
"Well, sir," said Ellen. "I do believe that you are the evil one known as Ganon."  
  
"Why, you are right, my dear," said Ganon, pressing his finger against Ellen's nose. "And soon, you will turn yourselves against your parents! Bwaaahh haaaa haaaaaaa!"  
  
"I'm afraid not," said Richard. "We love our parents too dearly to turn against them."  
  
"Well, let's make a little proposition, shall we?" said Ganon. "Either you do as I say, or you two AND your parents will be tortured and killed by me! Since I am in a rather good mood, I'll give you the entire afternoon and the rest of the night to figure it out. You MUST have decided by 8 a.m. tomorrow or you shall meet your demise!"  
  
  
Richard and Ellen were put in a dark, dirty, and smelly dungeon. They were locked in chains, unable to move.  
  
"I do think we are doomed, dear brother," said Ellen.  
  
"Well, let's not get too hasty," said Richard. "Our parents would realize that we are gone and figure that Ganon must've gotten to us. So I believe that we are in good hands."  
  
"I hope you're right. And with my wrists in chains, I am totally unable to clean my glasses."  
  
  
  
  
It was 3 in the afternoon and still no sign of Richard or Ellen as Link rode Epona ALL over Hyrule field. He had already spent hours calling out their names until it dawned on him: Ganon. That dreadful name entered into his head.   
  
"He's kidnapped them," said Link to himself as he motioned Epona to gallop to Ganon's lair. "Well, he's not going to get away with it."  
  
He hitched Epona to a nearby tree and with sword drawn, he cautiously entered Ganon's lair. He looked around to make sure none of Ganon's thugs were sitting behind anything. He made his way toward the dungeon where he hid behind a staircase railing. He saw his two children, Richard and Ellen shackled up in a dungeon cell. Making sure the coast was clear and sneaking behind a couple of sleeping guards, Link made his way to the cell.  
  
"Oh, Father, we're glad you're..."  
  
"Shhh!" whispered Link, interrupting his daughter. "I've got to get you two out of here. He took the cell keys from a hook near the cell and unlocked the cell door. After freeing his children, they silently crept past the sleeping guard and toward the entrance. They were just about to exit Ganon's lair when all of a sudden, Ganon appeared at the entrance.  
  
"And JUST where do you think you are all going?" asked Ganon. "Why are you leavingn so quickly? I just HATE it when my guests leave early. Why don't you stay and have some tea, hmm?"  
  
"Never, Pigface!" snapped Link. "Let us through!"  
  
"Ah ah ah, let's not be so hasty, Link," said Ganon slyly. "After all, YOU are my guests." Ganon drew his sword and both Link and Ganon fought. While in the middle of fighting, Link shouted to his children.  
  
"Richard, Ellen! Quick! Get on Epona and ride home!"  
  
The two of them both saddled up and rode back to Hyrule Castle, just before Ganon ran out of the entrance to get them.  
  
"You fool!" snapped Ganon. "You will pay!" He quickly swung his long, double-edged sword at Link's head. Link ducked his head but not enough. There was an inch-long bloody gash on Link's forehead and it hurt him badly. He fell to the floor, covering his wound with his hand.   
  
Ganon said nothing but laughed at his pain. Link then pulled out his ocarina with his other free hand and played a tune on it and disappeared, just before Ganon was about to decapitate him.  
  
  
  
  
  
That evening at Hyrule Castle, Richard and Ellen were home safe but had an eye on their father, lying in bed with stitches in his forehead, a badly bruised arm, a few broken fingers, and a sprained ankle.   
  
"At least he got us to safety," said Ellen.  
  
"But why were you near Ganon's lair?" asked Zelda. "You could've gotten yourselves killed.  
  
"I am not sure," said Richard. "We were just passing it by on a walk until we stepped in that net-trap that Ganon had set out."  
  
"To think that you both are college graduates and YET you let someone like Ganon fool you. I'm surprised. Don't EVER go near Ganon's lair again."  
  
"Yes Mother," the children said in unison.   
  
"Now I think we should all get to bed," continued Zelda. "The royal doctor will be keeping an eye on your father tonight."  
  
"Well before we go to bed tonight," said Richard. "There is one thing we must do."  
  
"Now what is that, pray tell?"  
  
"Clean our glasses."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
